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Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Slow Cooker Recipe for Pulled Pork with Low-Sugar Barbecue Sauce

Just make the barbecue sauce with all Stevia or Splenda and you can enjoy this pulled pork for Phase One!

(I'm afraid that breaking my arm three weeks ago put a crimp in any plans I had for a special round-up of Superbowl Recipes, but I decided I should at least end our A Month of Daily Phase One Recipes with some Phase One ideas that would work for Superbowl parties. And as long as you skip the optional brown sugar in this low-sugar barbecue sauce and make it with all Stevia granulated sweetener or Splenda, this pulled pork is perfectly legal for Phase One.)

When I mentioned on Facebook that I was making a version of pulled pork with low-sugar barbecue sauce, I had people asking me to post the recipe. That didn't surprise me, since this is a classic American dish, but I do want to start by saying that one reason I decided to tackle this was because I find most barbecue sauce recipes to be too sweet, without enough complex flavor undertones. I wanted to see if I could come up with a version that would suit my preference for more savory flavors, so if you try this recipe, be prepared for a sauce with plenty of mustard flavor, smokiness, and spice, and just the barest touch of sweetness.

Even without the sugary barbecue sauce, pulled pork is something that required some thought about how to make it friendly to the South Beach Diet, which recommends meat with less than 10% fat. I started with a crockpot recipe for Slow Cooker Pulled Pork that I'd spotted on Prudence Pennywise. Then I consulted my butcher for ideas about a lean cut of pork that would pull apart when cooked for a long time at a low temperature, and ended up going with a pork loin roast that I cut into two pieces against the grain, so I had shreds of pork that were 3-4 inches long. For the sauce I use mostly Stevia or Splenda, but I did add a bit of brown sugar. You could make this with all sweetener and no brown sugar if you want it for phase one. Finally, read below about the reduced sugar ketchup that was the base of my sauce.

I trimmed all the outside fat off my pork loin roast, and then cut it in half against the grain. This roast was about 2 pounds after trimming, but next time I'd get one just a little bigger.

This is the same ketchup I used for Low-Sugar Cocktail Sauce, but they've changed the bottle so I thought I'd show you what it looks like now. If you don't want to use ketchup with artificial sweetener, buy a natural ketchup without added sugar from the health-foods store.

Mix the barbecue sauce in a measuring cup or bowl. I tasted a few times and added a little more of this or that until it tasted good to me. (The flavors will get more intense as it cooks.)

Spray the crockpot with olive oil, then put the trimmed pork roast that you've cut in half in, pour the sauce over and cook all day on low. I used a 2.5 quart crockpot, so if you only have a big crockpot I'd double the recipe and freeze some.

When the meat is done enough to pull apart easily, remove from crockpot with a slotted spoon., then shred with two forks. (I ate some before I took this photo, so a two pound roast will be a little more than this!) Pork should cook about 7-8 hours, on low, depending on how hot your crockpot cooks.

I thought the sauce seemed a little thin, so I took it out of the crockpot and simmered on the stove until it was reduced by about 1/3. This also concentrated the flavor just a bit more. (This step is completely optional.)

You can put the shredded meat back into the crockpot with the sauce to keep it warm, or serve right away. This would be great on sandwiches, but I just ate it with a salad of shredded lettuce, shredded, cabbage, and homemade blue cheese dressing.

Use a slotted spoon to remove meat from slow cooker, and place on cutting board. Check the sauce in slow cooker and if you'd like it a bit thicker, pour sauce into small saucepan and simmer at medium-low heat until reduced by 1/3, probably not longer than 10-15 minutes.

While sauce thickens, use two forks to shred apart the meat, placing back in slow cooker to keep warm if desired. When sauce is as thick as you want it, pour over meat. This can be kept warm in the slow cooker for an hour or two, or served immediately.

If you're making this recipe for the South Beach Diet, it's important to follow the suggestions about using pork with only 10% fat and using low-sugar ketchup and mostly Splenda or Stevia to sweeten the sauce. Even with those adaptations to the recipe, for the sauce with brown sugar it's probably good to limit serving sizes for phase 2. For phase 3 you can have a larger portion, or eat it on a whole wheat roll. If you made the sauce with all Splenda or Stevia, it would still have a very small amount of sugar from the ketchup and Worcestershire sauce, but the all-sweetener version would be something I'd eat for a "once in a while treat" for phase one.

Nutritional Information?
I chose the South Beach Diet to manage my weight partly so I wouldn't have to count calories, carbs, points, or fat grams, but if you want nutritional information for a recipe, I recommend entering the recipe into Calorie Count, which will calculate it for you.

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Posts may include links to my affiliate account at Amazon.com, and this blog earns a few cents on the dollar if readers purchase the items I recommend, so thanks for supporting my blog when you shop at Amazon!

52 comments:

I can't wait to try this! I'm not usually a big meat eater, but pulled pork is one of the exceptions. I'm with you on the savory bbq sauce, too. Mustard is one of my favorite condiments, and I want to be able to taste it!

I didn't know that Heinz made a low-sugar ketchup. I haven't been able to eat store-bought ketchup for years. I make it (not often) from roasted tomatoes and it's a real treat. I never thought I'd hear myself say that.

Your dish looks fabulous. Also saw on Twitter that you reorganized your office & have a great work space. I bet that feels great.

I have BBQ at most three or four times a year. One of those times is usually at the Big Apple BBQ Block Party in early June. (Incidentally Kalyn -- it occurred to me that if you time your visit right, you can experience both the Block Party and the NYC BlogHer conference within the same time frame.) BBQ is just not something I have on a frequent basis so when I do eat it, I tend to go all out.

I prefer vinegar-based sauces that aren't sweet so much as piquant. North Carolina-style pulled pork works well in this regard.

Ulrike, would be fun to think of you cooking this American classic in Germany! Go for it.

Katie, I'm not a big meat eater either, but I did like this very much.

Helene, thanks. Super easy to make!

Veron, hope you like it.

Junglefrog, I guess barbecue season has passed here too, sigh.

Cherry, I'm a pork fan too (especially for someone who's not much of a meat eater.)

Amy, the reduced-sugar ketchup is great! I am loving my new office and now that I changed the desk I love it even more.

Joanne, thanks, glad you like it.

Stash, I have heard about the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party. I think Chris Lilly sometimes goes there (I met him once at a Kingsford "Barbecue University." But the BlogHer conference is in August. Not sure I've had the Carolina Style barbecue, but it sounds interesting.

I'm with stash on the NC vinegar style bbq sauce for pulled pork, but that's because my first experience with real BBQ was as a barefoot kid on a farm in North Carolina. It was the best thing I had ever eaten.

Here's one I got from my grandmother: http://www.nibblemethis.com/2009/02/i-like-big-butts-and-i-cannot-lie.html

But this is more of a piedmont style. Further east in NC, they skip the ketchup altogether.

That looks good. I do catering in San Francisco for a living and have tried many different types of ways to make pork. I myself do not like it, but alot of people as you know do. I am going to try this out.

I'm a pretty good BBQ cook. Normally, BBQ is a boston butt that is slow smoked. The pork loin is a good idea, but the sticky sauce! Yikes! North Carolina BBQ is heavy on vinegar, so it would have the high acidity we look for on south beach. Here's what I may try:

1) Rub the pork loin and let it sit overnight (Don't trim the fat!). My basic rub is based off Steve Raichlen's. I use splenda brown sugar when I make a batch, which means 2 T rather than 1/4 cup.

2) Proper BBQ is smoked. Get a bag of hickory chips, and soak 2-3 cups in water for 30 minutes while you prep your grill (1 cup per pouch). You want your grill at 325 degrees, setup for indirect grilling. Also, you need access to the heat so that you can put your smoker packets on. For me on my weber gas grill, I take one grill off, and put one in the center. I slide the smoker pouches over the front burner with my tongs, and have the front burner between 3/4 and full blast with the back burners off. The meat goes over the back burners.

3) For a butt, it usually takes 6-8 hours. A loin would probably only take 4-5 hours. Every hour, throw on a new smoker packet. I just slide the ones from the previous hour to the side, and turn up the grill up momentarily to ignite the packet and get the grill back to temperature. Used up packets I toss (with the tongs!) into a terra cotta pot.

Todd I can tell you're a man who's a lot more serious about pulled pork than I am. I wasn't aiming for a completely authentic recipe, but one that can be cooked easily in the slow cooker. Thanks for sharing your version, I'm sure it's tasty!

Made this yesterday in the slow-cooker, and it was fabulous. I love a good pulled-pork BBQ, and this hit really well right in the middle--not too tomato-y, not too sweet, not too-vinegar-y. Next time, I will use just a bit less Splenda white and a bit more Splenda brown, for a darker taste.

I put it on one of those Arnold Sandwich Selects, a 100% whole wheat bun-sorta-thingy. I love those, and they made a good splurge when it comes to carbohydrates. With a dollop of coleslaw on top, I was a happy, happy girl!

Kayln, your site is unbelievable and I tried the pulled pork recipe yesterday and it's sooooooo good! I highly recommend it. I doubled the recipe and used the splenda/brown sugar product. I added a bit more spice to the sauce as well but overall it's a super delicious meal. I felt like the pork was a little dry though which is weird b/c I didn't think that was possible with a slow cooker...is it possible it cooked too long? I had about 5 lbs. cut into 4 pieces.

I followed your original recipe (including the brown sugar *ekk* and it is so good. I did cut it up into 6 chunks and cook on high for 8 hours. My crock pot never gets anything right unless I cut it up and cook on high.

So good. I can't wait for DH to try it and I've already shared the recipe link with my family.

Hello, I'm just ending my second week on SouthBeach and tried this recipe in my slow cooker. It was wonderful! I doubled the sauce for a 3 pound roast and it was perfect. I live in Germany and I took it to our "potluck" today...it was gone in about 10 minutes! Germans typically don't like super-sweet cuisine, so this bbq was perfect!

I added some Cary's sugar free syrup as a sweetener - trick I learned in a south beach baked beans recipe...yum! Thanks for another great recipe! Side note it is also really tasty when you drizzle a little of the syrup on a microwaved sweet potato!

I found this on your Christmas Dinner list and decided to give it a go - the last time I made pork in the slow cooker it was a disaster, but I was brave.

This. Is. Delicious. I had to modify it a bit - we don't use artificial sweeteners, so I added some honey and started with homemade ketchup from Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian." Couldn't find a 3lb roast so we only get to sop up 1.8 lbs of this treat! We're adding some of Smitten Kitchen's "Not Your Mama's Cole Slaw" and hardly had to do any work on Christmas. Thank you!

Good gracious! Are you tired of my questions yet? Don't get too tired of them because I need your help! Ha ha! So my precious sweet husband went to the store for me yesterday and could not find tomato paste so he bought tomato sauce. I think those tiny little cans hid from him. Anyway, I want to make it today but wasn't sure if the sauce would work?! HELP! Thanks so much!

Cristy, no worries about the questions; I am happy to help. I would put the tomato sauce in a pan on the stove and cook it until it's thick and most of the water has evaporated. If you don't do that I'd worry that the pulled pork would be rather runny.

Kalyn, this sounds great and I want to try it. I like that it's a slow cooker recipe and I don't like barbecue sauces filled with sugar, so this is good! I use Splenda a lot and will look for the ketchup. I've never heard of it. Thanks for the recipe, dearie!

I made this on Friday night along with the Blue Cheese Coleslaw. I cooked the pork all day on low, and it was falling apart. I cut back on the Splenda quite a bit, but I still thought the sauce was a bit sweet for my liking. It's a great recipe, so I'll definitely make it again. I'll just half the Splenda and up the hot sauce next time to tailor it to our taste. I also didn't use the liquid smoke and maybe that addition would ratchet down the sweet, as well.

Thanks for joining the conversation! I love hearing from readers and even though I can't always reply to every comment, I will always answer specific questions on a recipe as soon as possible. Sometimes I'm answering by iPhone, so my replies may be short!

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